Memphis Grizzlies: Grading Ja Morant’s 2020-21 season thus far

Ja Morant has been a leader for this team, sometimes in a negative way

Nobody expects Ja Morant to lead this team the way LeBron James leads his team at age 36. Morant is 21 years old and should be treated as such. That said, he has done a really strong job as the leader of this team so far in his career.

A lot of the time though, that has been to this team’s detriment. The Memphis Grizzlies play up to their star player’s level. You’ve heard the expression “this team is only as strong as its weakest link.” Well, this is a prime example of that.

Obviously, Morant could never be considered a weak link, but when he has a rough game, this Grizzlies team has a rough game. It’s something that we’ve seen all season.

That said, this is where we come up with more excuses for why it’s okay.

We cannot and should not expect a 21-year old player who was an unranked high schooler a few years ago to be leading an NBA team to victory each and every night. He’s going to have off nights and for now, that’s okay.

The important thing right now is that we see that he has an incredibly high ceiling. As he gets older, he’ll be able to find more consistency in his game, which will benefit this team more than you can imagine.

Overall leadership grade: A-